Choosing Another Ringmaster For Your Circus

Last week I had an interesting comment in a training program. An older participant talked about how she was not always the ringmaster of her circus, especially now. When I asked her to explain, she commented that her two children took care of her medical care and handled all appointments, etc. She said that she had given them the job of being the ringmaster of that part of her circus. When I asked her what that meant to her, she said, "I don't have to worry about it-they take care of everything."

That's a new twist on the idea of not being the ringmaster of your circus in some areas. You find someone you have a deep degree of trust in and you give them a responsibility related to your life. In her case she trusted that they could make better decisions than she could. I would imagine that if there was a huge life or death decision to be made that she would have input, but she has released the every day responsibilities to them to improve her own life.

As I thought about her comments, I reflected on a situation with my mother. I handle all her medical appointments, prescriptions and make decisions about her care. Since doing so her health has improved and she doesn't have to worry about calling to set up appointments, opening pill bottles or trying to remember if she took her medication. It has "improved her circus" and allowed her to focus on areas of greater importance to her.

What are some areas of your work or life that you might need to look at allowing someone else to be the ringmaster? If not ringmaster, how about co-ringmaster?